Sitting inside a glass enclosure, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich smiled today as a Russian judge convicted the women of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred." The Pussy Riot punk rockers were then sentenced to two years' imprisonment for their supposed crime. Amnesty International, which deems the feminists as "prisoners of conscience" while taking up their cause, called the ruling "a bitter blow for freedom in the country."

In case you've been living under a fucking rock, the whole sordid affair began back in February when the band performed their anti-Vladimir Putin "Punk Prayer" protest song in flash mob fashion inside Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow. The lyrics implored the Virgin Mary to become a feminist and drive away Putin. In the lead up to Russian presidential elections that would (formally) return him to power, the effort enraged the Orthodox church and the three balaclava-clad women were arrested the following month.

Having been detained for five months before the trial commenced, Pussy Riot's profile has grown internationally in that time with human rights organizations and musicians calling for their release. Björk, Anti-Flag, Faith No More and countless others saw through the facade seeing the flash mob as a legitimate form of political expression wholly unworthy of persecution. In the end, neither the court, the Church hierarchy, nor the President shared that view. Offended? Get the fuck over it already!

With so much attention focused on the fate of the women, throwing the book at them is likely to only further inflame temperament. Pro-Pussy Riot protests are planned today outside Russian embassies around the world as the government will be rightly chastised for Putin women in jail for simply singing a protest song...